Dijon Cuts the Mustard

Stella

Hooray  today we moved to our new house  that we stay at for three days. Hooray  we are going to stay in Dijon.

Emergency  joke of the day! How do you start a letter to your neighbour in a French accent? Dijon.  Get it “Dear John” p.s John is our neighbour.

So, we went on an hour and a half train but this time we went on one of those really fast  trains  It was so cool ..

When we arrived at Dijon we went inside. There was a lovely lady who showed us around the dear little department. It was so tiny and cute and an adorable little place. Then we went exploring. We went on a cool little owl 🦉 walk. On the way we got to go inside a church  and I got to pray. Today was so much fun 

Jac

Message from My Fitness Pal this morning “A reminder to get on your scales and update your weight today”. Fat chance. Who needs a fitness buddy app like that when you’re tasting your way through Europe!

Today we arrived in Dijon by fast train, travelling an incredible 246 km/h, taking us 1 1/2 hours from Gare de Lyon! It was nice to sit back and enjoy the beautiful country side. We have really lucked it in at our new Airbnb abode, with host Chantal leaving the girls an Easter chocolate bunny and frog and Dan and I, a miniature bottle of Creme De Cassis De Bourgogne (liqueur) to be poured over the A La Confiture D’Orange (orange sponge cake), a tradition in Dijon. She also left us mustard and four different homemade jams. Happy days! Dan also managed to get a consultation with Dr Wine and he said that she was making great progress!

What I didn’t realise until we did the famous “owl” walk is that there is quite a history to my name in Dijon. There is a Jacquemart in Dijon, which is not a brand of supermarket that I’ve put my name to, rather the Jacquemart is four metal automatons for the clock on top of the Dijon Notre Dame church (the only intact one left). Two of the automatons called Jacquemart and Jacqueline, sound the hours by striking a large bell with a hammer. The other two, their children, Jacquelinet and Jacquelinette, strike the quarter hours. Ok not a lot of imagination in the name stakes and there is some debate (in my mind) as to whether the younger of the two children became Jacquelinette because of her whittling size, eventually looking like a marionette (but not being able to be named so because Marion was not a Jac prefix), or if it was easier for the hammering time-poor parents to add another ‘te” than think of a more original name like Djackota (with a silent d). In a similar vein, (useless information unless at a trivia night with the special subject being families of West Indian cricketers) Dwayne Bravo, named his daughter Dwaynice and his son Dwayne Bravo jnr.

Dan

It is amazing what kids think about when they have the chance to spend time reflecting on their world and talking freely about it. I have been surprised so many times throughout these early days of the trip by the questions our girls have asked in order to make sense of what they are seeing. And religion has been high on their list.

During our visit to the cemetery earlier in the week, Stella questioned me about the different ways people were buried, what I thought happened after death and whether I believed in Jesus! Probing deeper, she then asked me where she could visit me when my ashes were scattered (there won’t be a place where you will be anymore), what Margaret and Poppy would think if they knew I didn’t believe in Jesus, and why I had to tell someone at church about my sins when I was a kid (hard for anyone to understand the concept of catholic confession and absolution of sin…)

Trying to keep the conversation at a manageable level for an 8 year old and without giving too much information about my past “sins” was difficult in itself, let alone trying to work out what I actually felt and feel about all of that “stuff”.  I guess that was why I left the shopping bag behind in the park…given that I was deep in thought about death and the after life!

And so today, when we visited the Dijon Notre Dame Church and sat down for a few moments to take it all in, it was not surprising that Stella had more to ask and say on the matter of religion:

• What would happen if I believed in Jesus when I grow up? I think I will.
• How do you pray to Jesus? Do you just say good words?
• Is this like going to church without the big man speaking?
• Do you do this when you pray? Hands together as per the paintings in the Louvre I’m going to.
• I think we should do this more often.  I like it a lot.

When I asked her afterwards what words she said when she prayed,  she replied,  “A lot. Like, hello Jesus you can share your love and kindness and spread it to everybody else.

“Bless her!

Daisy

Today was so much fun I wish I could find a better way to exaggerate the word ‘fun’. All right let’s get on to it. So, first we caught a very fast  train to Dijon, discovered a personal buffet and we got Dan a beer  It was surprisingly sweet, Jac liked it. In a whispering voice “Jac hates beer ” .

When we arrived at our new house in the center of Dijon we sat down on the couch  and felt relaxed . We were reading  up on Facebook and found out that there was a trail on the history of Dijon. Well we couldn’t say no to that, could we? We had so much fun on the trail, we even saw the Dijon version of Notre Dame and went in side.

Here is something I would like to say my grandma. Brenda has been in hospital recently with liver cancer. She hasn’t been well lately. l put my left hand, the closest to my heart, on the owl and made my wish . And I want everybody to know that it is not easy to go through surgery, especially not for cancer. So I wished that Brenda gets better soon and that people care for her and send her love  and kindness. This is a special note for Brenda xxx.